ACHUKA Book of the Day 3 Apr 2025
“This surrealist picture book in translation describes the enigma posed by white rabbit Joãozinho, who escapes from a close-barred, heavy- lidded hutch again and again without others discovering how… It’s a surprising, sparkling meditation on an animal’s nature and inner life. ” Publishers Weekly
“There’s a buoyant, joyful absurdity to the story, helped along by Kammal João’s kinetic illustrations of a bunny with important places to be.” New York Times
A chatty rabbit dares you to solve how he keeps escaping his hutch in this whimsical detective story perfect for reading aloud with animal lovers ages 5 to 9.
Joãozinho is an ordinary rabbit, happy and hungry. Ideas come to rabbits when they scrunch and unscrunch their noses, but as anyone who has seen a rabbit knows, they do this nonstop. In order to sniff out one single idea, they have to scrunch their noses 15,000 times. Joãozinho comes up with an idea as good as the smell of a fresh carrot. He’s finally figured out how to escape from his rabbit hutch in order to find more food. Joãozinho soon becomes an escape artist—but how does he do it? That’s a mystery he dares you to solve.
Clarice Lispector, one of the foremost writers of the twentieth century, wrote this story for her son Paulo, a lover of rabbits when he was small and, as she writes in her introductory note, “had yet to discover stronger affections.”
You can follow the illustrator on
https://www.instagram.com/kammal_joao/
Kammal João graduated in visual communication with a postgraduate degree in somatic psychomotricity from the Anthopos institute – Rio de Janeiro.
In 2018 he presented the individual exhibitions, “Alegria da matéria”, gallery Z42 – Cosme Velho, Rio de Janeiro – curated by João Paulo Quintela and the exhibition “Encenação menor”, at the IBEU gallery – Botanical Garden also in Rio de Janeiro – curated by Cesar Kiraly. He has works in the MAR collection, Rio Art Museum, and the Vista Alegre museum in Ílhavo, Portugal.
Clarice Lispector’s foreword to her story is worth quoting in full:
This story only works for children who like rabbits. It was written at the request-order of Paulo, when he was small and had yet to discover stronger affections. The Mystery of the Thinking Rabbit is also my discreet homage to two rabbits that belonged to Pedro and Paulo, my sons. These rabbits gave us a lot of headaches and lots of delightful surprises. Because the story was written for exclusively domestic use, I left a lot of room for oral explanations. I beg forgiveness from fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts, and grandparents for the forced contribution they’ll have to make. But at least I can guarantee, from personal ex-perience, that the oral part of the story is the best part. It’s very nice to talk about rabbits. In any case this “mystery” is more of an intimate conversation than a story. That’s why it’s much longer than its apparent number of pages. It really only ends when the child discovers other mysteries.
Clarice Lispector with her son Paulo for whom she wrote the book The Mystery of the Thinking Rabbit. pic.twitter.com/gLZ1rnPsSW
— Saudamini (@thesapphirebook) July 23, 2017
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